What Heavy Metal Tested certification is (and is not)

Quality, regulatory, and compliance teams in infant and family food hear the same parent question in different clothes: was this product independently evaluated for heavy metals, and against what? A lot report, a supplier letter, and a QR code can all be useful. None of them is a licensed certification mark.

Heavy Metal Tested is an independent Paleo Foundation certification that evaluates food, supplement, and consumer products against a published standard and licenses a mark to products that meet it.

That sentence is the program. It is not a tagline around a laboratory. Heavy Metal Certified is a certification program, not a laboratory. It does not run instruments, own a bench, or issue a health verdict on a diet. It publishes a subcategory standard, coordinates testing through a qualified independent ISO/IEC 17025 laboratory, and licenses the Heavy Metal Certified mark only to products that meet that standard. Certification is valid one year, with annual retesting.

Why a published standard matters

Infant and toddler foods sit in a category where parents search, retailers ask, and policy keeps moving. When a brand answers with a single lab PDF, the reviewer still has to decide what the numbers mean. A published subcategory standard changes that conversation. The claim on pack is not "we tested once." It is "this product was evaluated against a standard you can look up, and the mark is licensed only if it meets that standard."

A certification program and a laboratory do different jobs. The laboratory produces a measurement under its own quality system. The certification program decides whether that measurement supports a licensed mark. Mixing those jobs is how overclaims start.

How the process works

The process is short on purpose:

1. Apply.
2. Coordinate testing through a qualified independent ISO/IEC 17025 laboratory.
3. License the Heavy Metal Certified mark to products that meet the published subcategory standard.
4. Keep the certification current: it is valid one year, with annual retesting.

If a product does not meet the published standard, the mark is not licensed. That outcome is part of the program working, not a scandal. It is also why the program does not license an absence claim, a zero-contaminant promise, or a statement that a product is safe. Detection is not the same as a certification decision, and a certification decision is not a medical conclusion.

What the program does not do

Teams evaluating HMTc should be equally clear about the edges:

• It is not a substitute for California testing-and-disclosure rules, FDA expectations, or any retailer's own vendor program. Those obligations belong to the brand.
• It does not make a product required, approved, or preferred by a government agency.
• It is not a public proof directory of certified clients, and it is not a scorecard of named competitors.
• It does not turn Paleo or Keto certification history into evidence for Heavy Metal Tested.
• It does not start with an application packet. The first step is an eligibility conversation.

Those limits are what keep the mark usable in a regulatory review. A claim that cannot be defended is worse than no claim.

Who this is for

The first readers of this page are usually Quality, QA, Regulatory, Compliance, Food Safety, Legal, Product, or Operations people at US infant, child, and family food brands, and teams working children's dietary supplement SKUs. The question they bring is practical: can we put a checkable mark on this product line, and what does that commit us to for the next year?

If that is your question, the next step is not an application packet. It is a 30-minute eligibility conversation so both sides can see whether the subcategory, the SKU set, and the published standard even fit.

FAQ

What is Heavy Metal Tested? Heavy Metal Tested is an independent Paleo Foundation certification that evaluates food, supplement, and consumer products against a published standard and licenses a mark to products that meet it.

Is Heavy Metal Certified a laboratory? No. It is a certification program. Testing is coordinated through a qualified independent ISO/IEC 17025 laboratory.

Does the mark mean the product is safe? No. The program does not claim that a product is safe. The mark means the product met the published subcategory standard at the time of certification.

How long does certification last? Certification is valid one year, with annual retesting.

Is this required by a regulator or a retailer? No. It is a voluntary certification. It does not replace statutory testing, disclosure, or any buyer's own requirements.

How does a brand start? Book a 30-minute eligibility conversation. That conversation is not an application and not a close.

Next step

A 30-minute eligibility conversation is not an application and not a close. If you work on quality, regulatory, or compliance for a US infant, child, family food, or children's supplement brand, book a 30-minute eligibility conversation.